2019-2020
International Womens’ Day / World Water Day
Biome addressed 60 women in a workshop organised at Kanivenahalli GLPS on rainwater harvesting and the shallow aquifer. The event took place on 11 March 2020.
TEDxBMSITM
Vishwanath Srikantaiah spoke on ‘A City and its Waters’ at the TEDxBMSITM event on February 29, 2020
Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba 2020
Biome and ATREE put up a stall on ‘Urban Waters of Bangalore’ at the Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba on 16 February 2020.
Trashonomics Wastewater Management released
Archana Prasad Kashyap from TAICT.org and Shubha Ramachandran from Biome worked on a wastewater primer for middle and high school students called Trashonomics Wastewater Management. It can be adopted as part of the Science and Environmental Studies curriculum, and was released on February 10, 2020
OWSSB visit
E & Y organised a visit of the officials of Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board to Bengaluru. The Orissa officials wanted to see systems where wastewater is treated with less energy and treated wastewater is reused. Biome helped organise visits to Jakkur Lake, Saul Kere, Hebbagodi Lake and Rainbow Drive on Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Cubbon Park recharge wells
In collaboration with Friends of Lakes and with funding from India Cares, Biome got 73 recharge wells dug in Cubbon Park, and also rejuvenated two of the ponds.
GCIL interns from University of Washington, Seattle
Biome hosted four students from the University of Washington’s Grand Challenges Impact Lab (GCIL) in Jan - Feb 2020, while also conducting a session on water conservation at the RWH Theme Park for the entire larger group of 30. The four interns with Biome worked on the Cubbon Park wells and documented the schools RWH project in Devanahalli.
The Invisible Water Warriors
Avinash Krishnamurthy of Biome gave a talk at Bangalore International Centre on ‘The Invisible Water Warriors’ - on the labourers who work to maintain the city’s water systems. A plumber, a well digger and 3 informal sanitation workers also spoke on the occasion organised by Bangalore Sustainability Forum on Saturday, January 25, 2020
SUBMERGE at Ulsoor Lake
On 25 Jan 2020, Biome organised a lake walk around Ulsoor Lake as part of the SUBMERGE exhibition by the Science Gallery Bengaluru.
Workshop at Bhoomi College
Biome was invited by Bhoomi College to do a 3-day workshop for their students on Sustainable Water Management on January 13, 14 and 16, 2020. It included sessions conducted by Vishwanath and Avinash, and site visits to Jakkur Lake and Cubbon Park Metro Art in Transit.
Workshop for GCIL interns
Biome facilitated a visit and workshop for the entire batch of 30 GCIL interns from the University of Washington at the RWH Theme Park and the Cubbon Park metro mural on Friday, January 10, 2020, anchored by Avinash Krishnamurthy
Consultation on Lake Ecology & Biodiversity in Cities
Shubha Ramachandran from Biome was invited to deliver the keynote address at a public consultation on lake ecology and biodiversity in cities held on 21 December 2019.
Tyranny of Small Decisions
Vishwanath Srikantaiah gave a talk 'Tyranny of Small Decisions' at ICWaR, IISc on Saturday, December 21, 2019
Participation in the State Specific Action Plan (Karnataka)
Biome was one of the invitees to a workshop for the Jal Shakti Mission’s State Specific Action Plan for Karnataka held on 20 December 2019.
Workshop on ‘Solutions for Rejuvenating Bengaluru’s Lakes’
Biome participated in a 2 day workshop on ‘Solutions for Rejuvenating Bengaluru’s Lakes’ organised by ATREE on 11 – 12 December 2019.
Jakkur Kere Utsav
Avinash Krishnamurthy gave a talk at Jakkur Lake as part of the Jakkur Kere Utsav on Sunday, November 24, 2019
Bioblitz for Oracle
Biome and ATREE conducted Bioblitz at Singapura lake for Oracle employees on Saturday, November 23, 2019
Biodiversity Walk Training Workshop
Biome organised a Train the Trainers workshop for those interested in becoming resource persons for biodiversity awareness programs. This was held at Jakkur Lake on 16 November and 15 December 2019.
10th anniversary of Biome Trust
A small cake cutting ceremony was held at the Biome office to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Biome Environmental Trust on November 14, 2019
Panel discussion by BIC and Citizen Matters
Vishwanath Srikantaiah participated in a panel discussion ‘Sustainable, equitable access to water’ organised by the Bangalore International Centre in collaboration with Citizen Matters on 31 October 2019.
Biome at TEDxBangalore 2019
Shubha Ramachandran gave a talk on ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’ at TEDxBangalore 2019 organised on 20 October 2019.
Workshop for Leaders’ Quest
Leaders’ Quest (LQ) is a social enterprise that works with business, NGO and civil society leaders to enhance their impact in today’s fast-changing world. Facilitated by Biome, 13 ‘leaders’ from various countries visited Jakkur Lake and Cubbon Park on Oct 14 and 16, 2019 to understand aspects of sustainable water management.
Visit by Ummeed
Biome facilitated a visit of the team from the NGO Ummeed from Lucknow to Jakkur Lake and the RWH Theme Park on Friday, October 11, 2019
Government Telugu School, Ulsoor - Rooftop RWH and water literacy
Biome added the Govt Telugu School, Ulsoor, to the list of schools where rooftop rainwater harvesting systems have been installed and water literacy sessions conducted for the students. The project was funded by Brady India in Sept – Oct 2019.
Deadzone revival in Jakkur Lake
On a grant from the Bangalore Sustainability Forum, Biome worked on a project to identify and revive a dead zone in Jakkur lake, from August 2019 to March 2020.
World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden
The World Water Week is the biggest conference on water in the world organised by SIWI in Stockholm, Sweden, every year. Shubha Ramachandran of Biome made a presentation on ‘Traditional livelihoods, groundwater, wetlands and wastewater’ at the World Water Week in August 2019 (https://www.siwi.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/WWW_Wednesday_Programme_2019.pdf – page 117).
Awareness session at Shantiniketan Layout
Awareness session by Shubha Ramachandran for Shantiniketan layout RWA on rainwater harvesting and sustainable water management on August 18, 2019
Biodiversity walk at Kaikondrahalli Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome organised a biodiversity walk at Kaikondrahalli Lake on 11 August 2019.
Talk at Rotary Malleswaram
Talk by Shubha Ramachandran on sustainable water management at Rotary Club, Malleswaram, on August 8, 2019
Awareness session at New Horizon College
Awareness session by Shubha Ramachandranon sustainable water management at New Horizon College, Ramamurthynagar on Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Training for ULBs through CMAK and DMA
Avinash Krishnamurthy from Biome was a resource person at the workshop on ‘Innovative solutions to improve the Service deliveries in ULBs’ organised by the City Managers’ Association Karnataka and Directorate of Municipal Administration held in the second week of July 2019 at Vikasa Soudha. He spoke on ‘Water conservation, RWH & grey water recycling & reuse’
Biome at WRI Hyderabad
Avinash Krishnamurthy from Biome was invited to make a presentation on at the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Restoration and Conservation of Urban Water-related Ecosystems organised by WRI at Hyderabad on Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Cities of Tomorrow
Visit to Rainbow Drive by FutureSake to ideate and plan logistics for their Cities of Tomorrow water curriculum, facilitated by Shubha on Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Earthian Train the Trainers
Biome participated in the Train the Trainers program organised by Wipro earthian for school teachers on Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Awareness session at General Motors
Awareness session by Shubha Ramachandran on water management for the employees of General Motors Technical Centre at ITPL, Whitefield on Thursday, July 4, 2019
Interns from CEPT, Ahmedabad
The Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, sends four of their students every year to intern at Biome for 4-5 weeks in June-July. The 2019 interns worked on wastewater reuse at Vijayapura and mapping the recharge and open wells at Cubbon Park.
Art in Transit
Art in Transit is a truly inspired project that combines art, community engagement, awareness building through storytelling and recording traditional cultural practices. The project involved creating a large mural on one of the walls of the Cubbon Park Metro station depicting the water story of Bengaluru, including the story of the well diggers.
Biodiversity walk at Rachenahalli Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome organised a biodiversity walk at Rachenahalli Lake on 9 June 2019.
Million Wells lecture
A lecture on ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’ was organised at the Dialogue Cafe, Koramangala on Thursday, June 6, 2019 by EnSyde, delivered by Shubha Ramachandran.
Univ of Minnesota students visit RBD
Biome Trust facilitated a visit of University of Minnesota students to Rainbow Drive and Kaikondrahalli Lake to learn about IUWM on 24 May 2019.
Workshop for well diggers
As part of the Art in Transit project, a workshop with the well diggers was organised on 21 May 2019. A discussion on opportunities and challenges was followed by the well diggers marking the wells they have dug on a map of the city.
Shubha at TIFR-ICTS
Shubha Ramachandran was invited to speak at TIFR-ICTS Women and Science’s Summer School for Women in Mathematics and Statistics on May 17, 2019 on the topic ‘Local Water Resource Management in a City’.
Wipro water volunteers workshop
Biome and Wipro organised a workshop for volunteers from Wipro who wanted to work in the area of water, on May 15, 2019 at Kaikondrahalli Lake.
Nallurhalli - vision for lake development
Biome, along with Friends of Lakes and Next Drop were facilitators for a lake visioning workshop for the Nallurhalli Lake at Whitefield, organised on 12 May 2019.
Urban Waters workshop
April 25-26, 2019, School of Ancient Wisdom, Devanahalli
Biome Trust organised a workshop on the state of water in urban centres in the country, which was attended by 42 people from different cities and towns working on water issues, including academicians, water professionals, govt officials and activists. The workshop was funded by Wipro, and covered four broad topics – (1) Groundwater and its participatory management, (2) Local water resources in higher education, (3) Lakes / rivers / canals revival and community participation, and (4) Protecting and rejuvenating local water bodies.
Impactathon 2019
Organised by AppDynamics in March 2019, this event brought together tech innovators to address problems and issues around water quality and urban liveability. Team Salila, with Shubha and three others, won the Impactathon.
Participatory Groundwater Management - Devanahalli cont’d
Participatory Groundwater Management-Devanahalli (PGWM-D) was initiated in 2018 with the objective of developing and catalysing groundwater monitoring protocols for the different stakeholders in the project area. During this period of the project, field data collection and conversations happened with farmers, industries in the Aerospace SEZ, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) authorities, Devanahalli Town Municipal Council (TMC) staff and councillors to understand the existing water management practices. ACWADAM, Biome’s project partner, visited the locations to develop an understanding about the geology and hydrogeology of the region. Pumping tests were conducted on open wells and filter borewells near Doddakere.
Citizen Science
- Biodiversity walk at Kaikondrahalli Lake was organised
- Train the Trainers – Biodiversity walks: A two day session to train the trainers who would like to conduct biodiversity walks was organised. Dr R Ganesan, a botanist and Vena Kapoor, a spider expert conducted the sessions.
- Observing the lake board created for Kaikondrahalli lake, Covalense Digital came forward to sponsor a board for Lower Ambalipura Lake. This board had information such as key features of the lake, lake series that the lake belongs to, activities at the lake and whom to contact.
- The Biome team participated in the Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba held on the 16th February 2020.
- Blogposts were written on
– Common fishes found in Bangalore lakes
– Algae and algal blooms
– Testing for lake water quality
2019 - 2020
International Womens’ Day / World Water Day
Biome addressed 60 women in a workshop organised at Kanivenahalli GLPS on rainwater harvesting and the shallow aquifer. The event took place on 11 March 2020.
TEDxBMSITM
Vishwanath Srikantaiah spoke on ‘A City and its Waters’ at the TEDxBMSITM event on February 29, 2020
Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba 2020
Biome and ATREE put up a stall on ‘Urban Waters of Bangalore’ at the Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba on 16 February 2020.
Trashonomics Wastewater Management released
Archana Prasad Kashyap from TAICT.org and Shubha Ramachandran from Biome worked on a wastewater primer for middle and high school students called Trashonomics Wastewater Management. It can be adopted as part of the Science and Environmental Studies curriculum, and was released on February 10, 2020
OWSSB visit
E & Y organised a visit of the officials of Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board to Bengaluru. The Orissa officials wanted to see systems where wastewater is treated with less energy and treated wastewater is reused. Biome helped organise visits to Jakkur Lake, Saul Kere, Hebbagodi Lake and Rainbow Drive on Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Cubbon Park recharge wells
In collaboration with Friends of Lakes and with funding from India Cares, Biome got 73 recharge wells dug in Cubbon Park, and also rejuvenated two of the ponds.
GCIL interns from University of Washington, Seattle
Biome hosted four students from the University of Washington’s Grand Challenges Impact Lab (GCIL) in Jan - Feb 2020, while also conducting a session on water conservation at the RWH Theme Park for the entire larger group of 30. The four interns with Biome worked on the Cubbon Park wells and documented the schools RWH project in Devanahalli.
The Invisible Water Warriors
Avinash Krishnamurthy of Biome gave a talk at Bangalore International Centre on ‘The Invisible Water Warriors’ - on the labourers who work to maintain the city’s water systems. A plumber, a well digger and 3 informal sanitation workers also spoke on the occasion organised by Bangalore Sustainability Forum on Saturday, January 25, 2020
SUBMERGE at Ulsoor Lake
On 25 Jan 2020, Biome organised a lake walk around Ulsoor Lake as part of the SUBMERGE exhibition by the Science Gallery Bengaluru.
Workshop at Bhoomi College
Biome was invited by Bhoomi College to do a 3-day workshop for their students on Sustainable Water Management on January 13, 14 and 16, 2020. It included sessions conducted by Vishwanath and Avinash, and site visits to Jakkur Lake and Cubbon Park Metro Art in Transit.
Workshop for GCIL interns
Biome facilitated a visit and workshop for the entire batch of 30 GCIL interns from the University of Washington at the RWH Theme Park and the Cubbon Park metro mural on Friday, January 10, 2020, anchored by Avinash Krishnamurthy
Consultation on Lake Ecology & Biodiversity in Cities
Shubha Ramachandran from Biome was invited to deliver the keynote address at a public consultation on lake ecology and biodiversity in cities held on 21 December 2019.
Tyranny of Small Decisions
Vishwanath Srikantaiah gave a talk 'Tyranny of Small Decisions' at ICWaR, IISc on Saturday, December 21, 2019
Participation in the State Specific Action Plan (Karnataka)
Biome was one of the invitees to a workshop for the Jal Shakti Mission’s State Specific Action Plan for Karnataka held on 20 December 2019.
Workshop on ‘Solutions for Rejuvenating Bengaluru’s Lakes’
Biome participated in a 2 day workshop on ‘Solutions for Rejuvenating Bengaluru’s Lakes’ organised by ATREE on 11 – 12 December 2019.
Jakkur Kere Utsav
Avinash Krishnamurthy gave a talk at Jakkur Lake as part of the Jakkur Kere Utsav on Sunday, November 24, 2019
Bioblitz for Oracle
Biome and ATREE conducted Bioblitz at Singapura lake for Oracle employees on Saturday, November 23, 2019
Biodiversity Walk Training Workshop
Biome organised a Train the Trainers workshop for those interested in becoming resource persons for biodiversity awareness programs. This was held at Jakkur Lake on 16 November and 15 December 2019.
10th anniversary of Biome Trust
A small cake cutting ceremony was held at the Biome office to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Biome Environmental Trust on November 14, 2019
Panel discussion by BIC and Citizen Matters
Vishwanath Srikantaiah participated in a panel discussion ‘Sustainable, equitable access to water’ organised by the Bangalore International Centre in collaboration with Citizen Matters on 31 October 2019.
Biome at TEDxBangalore 2019
Shubha Ramachandran gave a talk on ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’ at TEDxBangalore 2019 organised on 20 October 2019.
Workshop for Leaders’ Quest
Leaders’ Quest (LQ) is a social enterprise that works with business, NGO and civil society leaders to enhance their impact in today’s fast-changing world. Facilitated by Biome, 13 ‘leaders’ from various countries visited Jakkur Lake and Cubbon Park on Oct 14 and 16, 2019 to understand aspects of sustainable water management.
Visit by Ummeed
Biome facilitated a visit of the team from the NGO Ummeed from Lucknow to Jakkur Lake and the RWH Theme Park on Friday, October 11, 2019
Government Telugu School, Ulsoor - Rooftop RWH and water literacy
Biome added the Govt Telugu School, Ulsoor, to the list of schools where rooftop rainwater harvesting systems have been installed and water literacy sessions conducted for the students. The project was funded by Brady India in Sept – Oct 2019.
Deadzone revival in Jakkur Lake
On a grant from the Bangalore Sustainability Forum, Biome worked on a project to identify and revive a dead zone in Jakkur lake, from August 2019 to March 2020.
World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden
The World Water Week is the biggest conference on water in the world organised by SIWI in Stockholm, Sweden, every year. Shubha Ramachandran of Biome made a presentation on ‘Traditional livelihoods, groundwater, wetlands and wastewater’ at the World Water Week in August 2019. Check page 117.
Awareness session at Shantiniketan Layout
Awareness session by Shubha Ramachandran for Shantiniketan layout RWA on rainwater harvesting and sustainable water management on August 18, 2019
Biodiversity walk at Kaikondrahalli Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome organised a biodiversity walk at Kaikondrahalli Lake on 11 August 2019.
Talk at Rotary Malleswaram
Talk by Shubha Ramachandran on sustainable water management at Rotary Club, Malleswaram, on August 8, 2019
Awareness session at New Horizon College
Awareness session by Shubha Ramachandranon sustainable water management at New Horizon College, Ramamurthynagar on Wednesday, August 7, 2019
Training for ULBs through CMAK and DMA
Avinash Krishnamurthyfrom Biome was a resource person at the workshop on ‘Innovative solutions to improve the Service deliveries in ULBs’ organised by the City Managers’ Association Karnataka and Directorate of Municipal Administration held in the second week of July 2019 at Vikasa Soudha. He spoke on ‘Water conservation, RWH & grey water recycling & reuse’
Biome at WRI Hyderabad
Avinash Krishnamurthy from Biome was invited to make a presentation on at the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Restoration and Conservation of Urban Water-related Ecosystems organised by WRI at Hyderabad on Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Cities of Tomorrow
Visit to Rainbow Drive by FutureSake to ideate and plan logistics for their Cities of Tomorrow water curriculum, facilitated by Shubha on Tuesday, July 23, 2019
Earthian Train the Trainers
Biome participated in the Train the Trainers program organised by Wipro earthian for school teachers on Tuesday, July 9, 2019
Awareness session at General Motors
Awareness session by Shubha Ramachandran on water management for the employees of General Motors Technical Centre at ITPL, Whitefield on Thursday, July 4, 2019
Interns from CEPT, Ahmedabad
The Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad, sends four of their students every year to intern at Biome for 4-5 weeks in June-July. The 2019 interns worked on wastewater reuse at Vijayapura and mapping the recharge and open wells at Cubbon Park.
Art in Transit
Art in Transit is a truly inspired project that combines art, community engagement, awareness building through storytelling and recording traditional cultural practices. The project involved creating a large mural on one of the walls of the Cubbon Park Metro station depicting the water story of Bengaluru, including the story of the well diggers.
Biodiversity walk at Rachenahalli Lake
As part of Citizen Science and Lakes, Biome organised a biodiversity walk at Rachenahalli Lake on 9 June 2019.
Million Wells lecture
A lecture on ‘Million Wells for Bengaluru’ was organised at the Dialogue Cafe, Koramangala on Thursday, June 6, 2019 by EnSyde, delivered by Shubha Ramachandran.
Univ of Minnesota students visit RBD
Biome Trust facilitated a visit of University of Minnesota students to Rainbow Drive and Kaikondrahalli Lake to learn about IUWM on 24 May 2019.
Workshop for well diggers
As part of the Art in Transit project, a workshop with the well diggers was organised on 21 May 2019. A discussion on opportunities and challenges was followed by the well diggers marking the wells they have dug on a map of the city.
Shubha at TIFR-ICTS
Shubha Ramachandran was invited to speak at TIFR-ICTS Women and Science’s Summer School for Women in Mathematics and Statistics on May 17, 2019 on the topic ‘Local Water Resource Management in a City’.
Wipro water volunteers workshop
Biome and Wipro organised a workshop for volunteers from Wipro who wanted to work in the area of water, on May 15, 2019 at Kaikondrahalli Lake.
Nallurhalli - vision for lake development
Biome, along with Friends of Lakes and Next Drop were facilitators for a lake visioning workshop for the Nallurhalli Lake at Whitefield, organised on 12 May 2019.
Urban Waters workshop
April 25-26, 2019, School of Ancient Wisdom, Devanahalli
Biome Trust organised a workshop on the state of water in urban centres in the country, which was attended by 42 people from different cities and towns working on water issues, including academicians, water professionals, govt officials and activists. The workshop was funded by Wipro, and covered four broad topics – (1) Groundwater and its participatory management, (2) Local water resources in higher education, (3) Lakes / rivers / canals revival and community participation, and (4) Protecting and rejuvenating local water bodies.
Impactathon 2019
Organised by AppDynamics in March 2019, this event brought together tech innovators to address problems and issues around water quality and urban liveability. Team Salila, with Shubha and three others, won the Impactathon.
Participatory Groundwater Management - Devanahalli cont’d
Participatory Groundwater Management-Devanahalli (PGWM-D) was initiated in 2018 with the objective of developing and catalysing groundwater monitoring protocols for the different stakeholders in the project area. During this period of the project, field data collection and conversations happened with farmers, industries in the Aerospace SEZ, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) authorities, Devanahalli Town Municipal Council (TMC) staff and councillors to understand the existing water management practices. ACWADAM, Biome’s project partner, visited the locations to develop an understanding about the geology and hydrogeology of the region. Pumping tests were conducted on open wells and filter borewells near Doddakere.
Citizen Science
- Biodiversity walk at Kaikondrahalli Lake was organised
- Train the Trainers – Biodiversity walks: A two day session to train the trainers who would like to conduct biodiversity walks was organised. Dr R Ganesan, a botanist and Vena Kapoor, a spider expert conducted the sessions.
- Observing the lake board created for Kaikondrahalli lake, Covalense Digital came forward to sponsor a board for Lower Ambalipura Lake. This board had information such as key features of the lake, lake series that the lake belongs to, activities at the lake and whom to contact.
- The Biome team participated in the Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba held on the 16th February 2020.
- Blogposts were written on
– Common fishes found in Bangalore lakes
– Algae and algal blooms
– Testing for lake water quality